event
Tuesday 22 Oct 2019: [Journal Club] Title: Solar/Stellar Wind Angular Momentum-loss
Adam Finley - University of Exeter
Physics Building, 4th floor, Interaction area 11:15-11:35
I will discuss the role stellar winds have in governing the rotation rates (and magnetic activity) of low-mass stars, like our own Sun. Specifically, I will demonstrate that the Sun’s angular momentum-loss rate varies on a range of timescales, from months to millennia, and that the predictions of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations appear to agree with the loss rates detected directly in the solar wind by in-situ spacecraft. However, these values are lower by a factor of around 2-3 than what we would expect based on the observed rotation periods of other Sun-like stars. Which, taken at face value, could be evidence of a more complicated spin-down behavior for “old” main sequence stars.
